The Twists and Turns of Life

A/N: Thank you to all of you who have reviewed!

rosie4299 & kc: Sorry, guys. I have everything worked out in this fic. Rory and Jess will be together for the next few chapters. But, as I have promised many times in other chapters and the summary, this fic will be a TRORY. Thank you for your reviews and I am so glad that you like my fic that much! It means a lot to me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls.

Chapter 12: Greetings and a Moment

"Jess, just please leave it alone." Rory was growing frustrated at Jess' persistence to know her history with Tristan.

"Why won't you tell me?" It seemed like he wasn't going to stop.

She sighed. "We kind of liked each other before I left."

He raised an eyebrow. "'Kind of liked'? How can you kind of like someone?"

"Easily." She began to walk a little faster to get to the part of town she was sure her friends would be.

He was quiet for a while and Rory scolded herself mentally.

After a few moments of silence, Jess stopped walking and grabbed Rory's hand to get her attention. "I think I'm going find something else to do."

She looked at him sadly. "Jess, no," she pleaded. "I want you to meet them."

He shrugged. "They're your friends so you should get to catch up or whatever. I'll try to find a motel or something that we can stay at seeing as how we probably can't go back to your parent's without me worrying about pieces of my body getting cut off."

She sighed and gave him a quick hug. "Okay. Call me on my cell when you find something, okay?"

"Yeah." He turned and started to walk in the opposite direction.

She took in a deep breathe and continued on her way.

* * *

"Rory!" She smiled as all of her friends called out greetings.

"Hey!" She hugged each of them.

"Where have you been?"

"Massachusetts. Actually, the reason I came back was to-"

She was cut off by someone shouting something at them. "Sorry, guys. I was reading then saw…" Tristan trailed off when he saw Rory standing there. "Hey," he quietly said.

She nodded but didn't say anything. The air was thick with tension and their friends looked on with confused looks, all fully aware of all that happened between the two.

"Okay…" Bret, one of their friends started, "we were going to go over to the, uh…" he looked around to find a place they could go, "that fountain over there, so we're just going to go." Everyone left Rory and Tristan behind and they continued to stare at anything besides each other.

"You're back."

Rory looked up at him, confused at first by what he meant, before realizing his words. "I'm not back."

"What do you mean?" he asked, playing dumb, hoping that she didn't mean it.

"Exactly that. I'm not back."

"You're leaving for good?"

She sighed, not really wanting to have the conversation. "I love it there."

"You don't love it here?"

She paused, considering whether or not she wanted to answer truthfully. "Not anymore," she whispered.

Silence developed between them once again when all of a sudden Rory stumbled in her place. Tristan's arms went around her waist, balancing her right away. "Are you okay?"

She pulled away from his grasp, but he wouldn't let go. "I'm fine. Can you let me go?"

"No."

She looked up at him and stared, tensing up when she noticed that he was moving closer to her. She looked past his shoulder and noticed someone watching them. "Jess!" He looked away then began to take off. "Jess!" she called out once more, jerking out of Tristan's hold and running towards Jess. "Hey…" She grabbed his hand.

He held something out, handing it to her. "I started walking, but noticed that I had your cell phone."

Rory took it and tried to explain. "I was feeling dizzy and he just-"

"Save it, Rory!" he screamed, not really meaning for it to come out as forceful and cruel as it did.

"Jess…"

"I'll call you when I find a motel."

He walked off once again and she couldn't shake off the feeling of guilt that washed over her. She stood still for a few moments before turning around to head over to where her friends were.

"Rory."

"Not now, Tristan." She felt the sudden need to slap him.

"How could he just yell at you like that?" Tristan clenched his fists in anger at the exchange he witnessed between them.

"He didn't mean it, Tristan."

"Like hell he didn't!"

"He didn't."

"How do you know?"

She looked him squarely in the eyes. "Because I know him." She walked over to the fountain, almost positive that Tristan wouldn't bug her about the subject again.

* * *

Rory didn't get a call from Jess until three hours later, when it was almost dark outside, and she was starting to worry that he was trying to cut down as much time as he could from spending with her. They both stepped into the small room and he immediately flopped down on the bed.

"Jess?" she asked, still standing by the opened door.

"Yeah?" he answered, not bothering to look at her from his position on the bed.

"There's only one bed." She motioned slightly to it, as if trying to emphasize the point.

"They didn't have any other rooms with two beds, so I thought it was okay…unless you want one of us to sleep in the car."

She stared awkwardly around the room. "No," she shook her head, "it's okay."

He glanced at her. "Well…now that I have your permission…" he said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry," she offered, talking about what had caused the rift between them.

He shrugged, trying to seem as nonchalant as he could. "You have nothing to be sorry about." He grabbed the bag that he brought with him and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

* * *

They had been lying in bed for an hour now, him lying on his back staring at the ceiling and her staring at him on her side; no words were spoken. "You can go back if you want."

Jess looked over at her when she suddenly broke the silence. "What?"

"Go back. Take my car and I'll find another way to get back. You don't have to stay." She kept her eyes down towards her hands, her voice a soft whisper.

He sighed. "No. We were going to leave in a couple days anyway, so…"

She looked up at him and he quickly averted his eyes. "So…?"

"We'll just leave together as planned."

There was a beat of silence before she spoke. "Are you still mad at me?"

He sighed again and brought his hand up to his face, rubbing at his eyes. "Nope and wasn't before either."

She laughed slightly. "Could've fooled me."

He smiled. "I wasn't."

"Sure," she teased.

They were okay again.

* * *

She was relieved, to say the least. She and Jess had come back to her house the next morning so that she could pack up the possessions she needed and found that her parents were out somewhere. She brought Jess up to her room to help her pack; "The faster, the better," she thought.

"Jess…?"

He rolled his eyes; he knew that tone. "Yes?"

"Coffee?"

"You know, I understood that when we were in my house, that I would get you some, and I even get you coffee when we're at coffee shops, but can you explain to me why when we're in your house, I still have to get you some?"

She smirked. "Well, you have two choices here - you can either go find the coffee or go in the bathroom and pack up all of the tampons and feminine products in there."

He visibly winced at the words and Rory laughed. "Yeah… I think I'm gonna go find that coffee for you." She continued to laugh as he hurried out of the room.

* * *

Her door was open, the one that she had changed the lock to. There were boxes everywhere and he could sometimes see her going through her drawers or walking around to find something that she wanted. When he saw Jess leave the room, he hurried down his ladder and ran to hers. He was surprised that it was still there, but she had been gone for a while now, so even if he were to go up to her room, there would be nothing there. He paused for a second, watching her. "Rory…"

Her head shot up in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to see you. I wasn't sure when you were leaving and I…"

They settled into an awkward silence. "In a couple days. Maybe a little sooner."

His eyes looked up at her with confusion. "What?"

"When we're leaving." She shrugged. "Whenever I get down packing, that's when we're leaving."

"You're really doing this?" The pain was evident in his voice as he slowly stepped closer to her.

She looked up into his eyes, noticing that they weren't as bright blue as they once were. "Yeah," she whispered. They fell into silence once again.

"You're pale," he stated. Tristan reached his hand out to touch her face, but she flinched at his touch and abruptly took a step back.

She tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "I'm fine."

"No, you aren't."

She gave him a look, about to say that he knew nothing about her, but decided against it. "Just because someone is pale doesn't mean that they are sick. People are pale all the time."

"Maybe, but you aren't."

She looked down. "I'm fine," she confirmed.

"Hey, I couldn't find any coffee, but I-" Jess stopped short when he saw who Rory was talking to. "Hey." He gave a slight nod in Tristan's direction and handed Rory the soda.

Rory grabbed it, offering a quiet 'thanks', before looking up at Jess. "Jess, this is Tristan," she looked at Tristan, "Tristan, this is Jess."

Tristan and Rory looked unbelievably uncomfortable, but were too stubborn to admit to such a feeling. She cleared her throat and looked at Tristan, trying to ignore his powerful gaze. "We still have a lot of packing to do, so…"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. I should get going anyway." He gave a look at Jess.

"It was nice seeing you again. Bye," Rory lamely offered.

"Same here. Bye." Tristan wanted to gag at the exchange of formal pleasantries; he thought that they worked beyond that years ago. He gave one last look at the pair before descending down the ladder.

* * *

~Later that day, Downtown Hartford~

Everyone had been laughing, talking, the whole time that they were walking together. Rory had taken notice of Jess' quietness, his sullen face, his hands resting in his pockets. He had hung back the majority of the time and was now just merely trailing behind from the rest of the group. Rory stopped one of her friends. "Hey, we'll meet up with you guys in a little bit, okay?" He nodded and Rory walked back to where Jess was. He stopped walking, knowing that she was there in front of him. "What's wrong?"

He shrugged his shoulders, not looking up at her. "Nothing."

She stepped closer to him, bringing her hands up to his face, bending down a little so that she could look into his crestfallen eyes. "Hey…" He looked at her. "Tell me."

He sighed and brought his right hand up to her face, caressing her cheek. "I promise that I'm fine." She dropped her hands, in a way, feeling rejected because he couldn't tell her what had been on his mind. She took a step back from him, but his other hand went to her waist, pulling her back to him. "Don't walk away," he softly pleaded.

She shook her head. "You don't want me here."

She tried to take another step away, but his grip tightened. "That's not true."

She looked up into his eyes. "Then why can't you tell me?"

"It's not something I can easily put into words."

"Try," Rory persisted.

"Rory…"

"Fine." She broke from his grasp and turned to walk away. He gently grabbed her hand and turned her back around to face him; she avoided his stare.

"Look at me, Rory." She didn't look up. "Lori…" he pleaded, hoping that she would respond to the special nickname he had for her. She looked up slowly. "Don't be mad at me." She looked away and frowned, still not saying anything. He stepped closer to her, bringing his hands up to her face, giving her no other option than to look at him. "I don't want you to be mad."

"I want you to tell me," she whispered.

He paused. "I want you," he spoke softly. Her eyes widened slightly, recalling the memories of the same spoken words Tristan had used. She stayed silent, not knowing what to say. He hesitated, slowly starting to regret telling her. He dropped his hands from her face and moved a couple steps back. "I'm sorry, I-"

Rory stepped to him, closing the gap once again, kissing him softly and gently. She sighed softly when he responded. She didn't want to make the same mistake twice. "And I wanted to do that." He smiled at her, watching as she shut her eyes in contentment.

* * *

Tristan's eyes narrowed as he saw the romantic exchange between the couple from a few yards away. Maybe he had lost her for good.

:-D Sorry, I'm a day late than what I promised, but at least it's out, right? Well, please tell me what you think. Thank you!